Material tagging is a known mining-related process, wherein an electronic map or digital model of a mining area is created (e.g., based on core sampling, arial photography, and/or surveying). The map or model includes contours of the mining area, along with an identification of three-dimensional boundaries of ore seams within the area. The different ore seams can be categorized based on type, size, quality, concentration, value, accessibility, etc., and excavation plans can be created that use the categories to accomplish a variety of goals (e.g., a productivity goal, a profitability goal, a composition supply goal, and an intermediate or final contour goal). The maps, models, and/or excavation plans are then uploaded into excavation and transport machines, and used to direct operations at the raining area.
As the machines move about the mining area, the movements of the machines and the loads carried by the machines can be tracked (e.g., via GPS or local tracking systems, and payload monitoring systems). In this way, material that is being moved by the machines can be identified based on the location in the map or model from which it was removed. In addition, the map and/or model can be updated based on the type and amount of material removed from a particular location in the mining area and deposited at another location. Map-based identification of excavated material, in conjunction with tracking of the identified material as it is moved, is known as material tagging. An exemplary material tagging system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,341 of Fournier et al. that issued on Dec. 15, 1998.
Accuracy in material tagging can be important. In particular, errors in excavation of ore seams can be costly, and providing an incorrect supply of material to a customer can be problematic. For example, if time is spent excavating material that is not useful to the mine owner or material that has a low value, the mine may not be profitable. In another example, providing the incorrect material to a customer could result in integrity or quality problems in projects completed by the customers (e.g., in roadway projects, bridge projects, building projects, etc). Errors can be introduced throughout the material tagging process, and current material tagging systems may not have a way to check the accuracy of the process or to seamlessly accommodate errors in the process when they are discovered.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.